The Patent Landscape for CRISPR Genome Editing in Australia

Although Australia has a proud record of health and medical research, it finds less traction when it comes to innovative product development. Patent filings are recognised as one of the measures of national innovation, and this is one measure where Australian innovators are falling short. We examined whether there may be discrete pockets of innovation in particular areas of technology where Australian researchers are making significant contributions. This study used patent filings as a measure of innovation and used clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) genome editing as a case study. We found a rich patent landscape, with filings for general methods and compositions and for specific diseases. However, the contribution by Australian applicants was small, with only four out of 519 filings. This indicates that navigating the CRISPR patent landscape to secure freedom to operate is likely to be complex for Australian innovators in this field.